Securing The ‘New Normal’ – Survey Shows Organizations’ Security Priorities As They Emerge From Covid-19 Lockdown - GADGET-INNOVATIONS

Securing The ‘New Normal’ – Survey Shows Organizations’ Security Priorities As They Emerge From Covid-19 Lockdown

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Check Point survey shows 75% of IT and security professionals fear further increase in cyber-attacks and exploits as they start to re-open offices, while also maintaining mass remote working


Check Point® Software Technologies Ltd. (NASDAQ: CHKP), a leading provider of cybersecurity solutions globally, has today released the findings of a new survey showing how organizations managed their cyber-security during the lockdowns forced by the Covid-19 pandemic, and also listing their security priorities and concerns over the coming months as they move to the ‘new normal.’



Over 86% of respondents said their biggest IT challenge during the pandemic was moving to mass remote working, and their biggest security concern was maintaining VPN capacity for staff.  Key findings from the survey of over 270 IT and security professionals globally are:


·  Top security concerns at the start of Covid-19 lockdowns:  62% of respondents said their main concern during initial lockdowns was maintaining secure remote access and VPN capacity for staff, followed by preventing social engineering attacks (47%), and securing staff endpoints and home networks (52%).

·   The ‘new normal’ begins as offices start to re-open:  75% of respondents said their offices were open again for limited numbers of employees as lockdowns lift.  But on average, staff are still working 4 days out of 5 at home – meaning remote-working vulnerabilities and threats will persist for a long time.

· The remote-working security gap:  While 65% of respondents said their company blocks unmanaged PCs from corporate VPNs, just 29% deploy endpoint security on employees’ home PCs, and only 35% run compliance checks. 42% say their company invests in cyber-security training.  This highlights how exposed organizations are to fast-moving, 5th generation cyber-attacks that target remote workers.

·  The security priorities for the ‘new normal’ over the coming months:  79% of respondents said their main priority is tightening security and preventing attacks as employees continue to work flexibly from home.  43% stated they plan to implement mobile security solutions, and 39% plan to consolidate their security estates to help eliminate ‘blind spots’ across their enlarged network perimeters.

·   Companies’ leading cyber-security concerns for the next 12 months:  Over 75% of respondents said their biggest concern was an increase in cyber-attacks, especially phishing and social engineering exploits. 51% said that attacks on unmanaged home endpoints was a concern, followed by attacks against employee mobile devices (33%). 

In April, a survey by Check Point showed that organizations were being hit by a ‘perfect storm’ of increased cyber-attacks, while having to manage the massive and rapid changes to their networks and employee working practices during the pandemic.  71% of respondents reported an increase in cyber-attacks during February and March 2020, and 95% said they faced added IT security challenges with provision of large-scale remote access for employees, as well as managing shadow IT usage.


Check Point has a full range of security solutions that ensure best-in-class connectivity and security for remote working, allowing workforces to remain as productive as possible. These include Check Point’s Remote Access VPN Software, Endpoint Threat Prevention, Mobile Security and Mobile Secure Workspace all aim to take a practical approach towards securing remote workers.  Check Point’s SandBlast Agent delivers complete endpoint threat prevention against zero-day attacks delivering a 100% block rate even for unknown threats with zero false positives.


The survey was conducted by Check Point with 271 respondents from enterprise organizations globally. For more details on the survey visit: 
https://www.checkpoint.com/cybersecurity-the-new-normal/






NEW DELHI – June 10, 2020